Day of Firsts

I am absolutely spent. I was up until 2am last night finishing my very first seminary paper. And then back up at 5am to get ready for school. Jermaine drove me so that he could have the car, and he went to bed even later than me! As you can probably imagine, the drive to Wesley was a drowsy one. But I was happy - the sun was coming up, I was getting to spend a little extra time with Jermaine and we were actually running early!

A flower from the gorgeous American University Campus.

Well, at first. Then the car died. That was awesome.

Our friend, Priscilla, graciously agreed to come pick us up (to take me the rest of the way to school and to take Sadie and Jermaine home). Such a sweet gal. As she drove me to school, I wondered how I was going to get home tonight. Jermaine suggested I take the bus, but I was stubborn. I've never ridden on a bus before and I was a little afraid.

I made it to my first class, but shortly after that, I hit a wall. I was exhausted. And frustrated. We found out the car was going to cost $800 to fix. It's not even worth that much! On to top it all off, Jermaine is leaving in less than two weeks and I'm panicking a bit. It's just come up so fast.

Around noon I decided that I couldn't make it the rest of the day. With this cop out, I solemnly promised not to miss anymore class. But for today, I sincerely believe it was a good idea to go home.** 

I dragged myself to the Metro. When I got off I began the search of finding the correct bus stop - a task that has always terrified me slightly. It didn't help that there were 8 different ones. I walked a half a mile to mine only to discover that it was the wrong one. I was so sleepy. 

Eventually I found the right number. Unfortunately that particular stop (or was it all of them?) was in the process of being taken over by stink bugs. A few flew on me. I squeaked and flailed. My fellow bus-riders were not amused. It didn't help my cause that I had to ask about fare (I had no idea what forms of payment they took). The total amounted to $1.70 and I was glad I could pay in cash but for some unknown reason I had only dimes and nickels in my purse. I finally scrounged up enough change and sat warily (for fear of stink bugs) waiting for my bus to come.

It was nearly 90 degrees. I was sweaty and exhausted. I know I'm blessed. I know how fortunate I am to have the opportunity to attend seminary, to homeschool my daughter and to write. But at that very moment I didn't feel very fortunate at all. Actually, I felt kind of gross.

Then I got a text. I opened up my phone to see what Jermaine had written (he had sweetly offered to come and wait for me at the other end of my bus destination). I wasn't prepared for this:

"YOU WERE SELECTED FOR THE INDIA TRIP!!!" << (Note the multiple exclamations!)

Holy eff! I almost started to cry! The email was supposed to come yesterday. When it didn't, I thought I hadn't made the cut. I praised God in that bus station, humbled and exuberant.

That was the turning point of the day. The rest has gone just fine. That text guided me - enabling me to put everything in perspective. 

I get to spend two weeks of my life this coming January loving others who need to be loved. I get to teach my daughter about human trafficking (a cause that I care about deeply), and about India, a country that has captured my heart. Details to come, of course.

I need to end this. We don't have internet in our new place yet - we are all at a bookstore right now (Sadie is having free reading time - where she can pick whatever book she wants regardless of the grade level - and she is absolutely loving it). But we need to start walking home. 

Thanks for reading my blog!

Journey to India

Hi! Thanks for reading this! I'm going to try to keep it short. It will be the first of a LOT of notes/blogs/emails/letters I'll be writing regarding India. And it will hopefully cover all the basic stuff.

As you may have heard, I'm going to India!!

THIS summer, in fact.

I'll be leaving July 30th (a Friday) and I'll be coming back around Sunday, August 15th.

It is NOT a mission trip.

The organization I'm going with - Made By Survivors (also called The Emancipation Network) - is an anti-human trafficking organization. You can check out TEN and more about what human trafficking is at this site - http://www.madebysurvivors.com/.

Our basic agenda -

- We'll have breakfast and a planning meeting everyday at 8:30am.
- Next, we'll go in groups to visit different shelters each day. At the shelters we will interact with the kids there and "divide our undivided attention evenly among the kids". Each volunteer is responsible for putting together/bringing games, projects and other fun things to do with the children.
- At the end of each day we have some free time - keeping in mind that we want to get to bed early to be refreshed for the next day.

We'll be there for two weeks and during the weekend that falls in between those two weeks (which just happens to be my birthday weekend!) there is an optional vacation trip to Goa, India (a beachy resort type place).

The total cost for the trip will end up being somewhere between $3500 and $4000.

Ooh, that's where you come in (hopefully!).

I am going to attempt to raise at least the entire cost of my trip. Any extra money that I raise will go to The Emancipation Network. Last year, someone raised $10,000. And these funds are crucial to the existence of the amazing shelters they provide.

Incredibly, the morning after I found out I was going to India, I woke up to a text - dear friends/family pledging $500.

I was blown away.

I have this strong sense that this is a God thing and that God will provide completely for this trip. I'm excited to send out letters and emails and tell people about this journey. But, no worries if you can't help me out with the fundraising aspect. Can you pray? Even if you don't consider yourself a "religious" person (especially if you don't, actually). Because I'm willing to bet that prayer is probably more essential than money.

If you want to donate a financial gift, great! If you just got your taxes back, even better! ;) I'm in the process of setting up a PayPal button so you can donate a dollar (or more) with a couple clicks of your mouse. If you prefer to send a check, let me know so that I can email you my address.

I'll be sending letters/emails out in the next week or so. If you prefer one over the other, let me know.

Thanks again, for taking the time to read this. Your support means a great deal to me.

Update.

Hi lovely people! It's waaay past my bedtime, so I don't have time (or energy) for a huge blog (thank God, right?) but I wanted to throw some updates at you so you'd at least have an idea of what's going on and why the blogging hiatus.

First off - I'll be returning to Blogger World very shortly. I guess you could say I already have. I took a break to recuperate from last semester. But now I'm back and I'm ready to paaaar-tay. I know. That's lame. Whatever.

Second off - I'm going to San Francisco this Saturday! It's an Alternative Spring Break trip through the University of Maryland. We'll be focusing on the Justice System - visiting Alcatraz and San Quentin, going to middle schools and high schools to talk to kids in gangs, and learning prison prevention programs and community-based service alternatives to jail. Among other things. We may even get to go on a ride along in a police car! Wowsers. Don't tell my mom. Unless you're reading this and you are my mom. In which case I love you and I promise not to do anything stupid. ;)

I'll be blogging about the trip on here and also here.

Third off - the Bible blog is coming back soon! I'm working out the details - and it's definitely taking longer than I thought it would. But, God willing, I'm going to finish!

Fourth off - It's National Women's Month! Sadie has to research a well known woman to research and she picked Zana Briski, author of Born In Brothels! Oh goodness, between that and the fact that she sleeps straight through her alarm every morning - she is sooo her mother's daughter.

Fifth and LAST - I might be going to INDIA this summer for two weeks! Holy manoly, right?? Details to come - if I get accepted into the program. Don't want to count my chickens, you know?

Okay. I lied. One more thing. I'm trying to get published. It's been a goal of mine for forever. And I'm torn between floundering in the magazine world - hoping to make my way or just flat out writing a book. Or maybe working on both. See, I can't decide. Except, I barely have time to squeeze one more thing into my schedule. I really really really want to set aside some time for writing everyday. I've tried a dozen times. I never follow through. Gosh, I guess it's time to pray.

G'night!